Do you use a brown bag, or do you have an actual lunchbox? Is it insulated? How much food do you bring, and what types of food?
Thanks in advance, I’m super interested by this type of relatively mundane stuff.
For myself I usually bring some kind of sandwich in a paper bag, nuts/dried fruit in the bags they come in from the store, and tea in a thermos. All of those things in my backpack.
5 identical glass Tupperware. Usually it’s a can of refried beans, 2 chopped green peppers, chopped sweet onion, small bag of frozen corn, and brown rice with a packet of taco seasoning mixed in. All divided roughly equal between the 5 containers.
Been doing this for like a decade. Used to have broccoli, chicken, pork, mushrooms, and other stuff but more or less the same idea. Been trying to go more vegetarian/vegan over the years.
I love it. I love spending 1 hour on Sunday to make all my lunches for the week.
I always pack two meals. I can’t eat much in the mornings, so I pack a breakfast and a lunch. Before work I usually just have something really small, either a small bowl of cereal or a single slice of toast or maybe a small muffin or something. Then I pack a wrap of some kind for my first real meal. I’ve been a big fan of Buffalo wraps the last 6 months or so, but I’ll mix it up sometimes with something else. Today was more of a citrus marinade with chicken thighs and rice. Then for my second meal, usually leftovers from whatever I had for supper the night before. In the odd chance I don’t have anything left over, I’ll make something the night before that resembles a typical supper meal, or maybe buy something but that’s pretty rare.
I have it in an insulated lunch bag with an ice pack as my lunch usually hangs out in my car the whole day.
I usually do a smoothie in the morning that works as a brunch of sorts that includes:
Oats, chia seeds, benefiber, magnesium, frozen berries, maybe a banana, nut-butter, maybe a scoop of protein powder.
I work in sales (ironic, I’m anti-capitalist) barely take breaks and like to not die from colon cancer so it fits my lifestyle.
One sandwich with 3 pieces of ham rolled up and a single slice of cheese under the meat. With that I bring a string cheese and a 12 ounce soda.
I’ve been using the same cooler for years, just a simple Coleman one with an icepack in it.
I live in an 18-wheeler for most of the week; I keep a mini-fridge behind my passenger seat. It’s mostly there for drinks, but I save some shelf space for sandwich supplies. Deli meats, cheeses, etc., plus some occasional treats in the freezer. I generally just slap a sandwich together, maybe pop it in the toaster oven for a bit, and then I’m off again.
My microwave gets some occasional action, and every now and then I’ll use my coffee maker to boil some ramen. I’m also thinking about hooking up a crockpot for this winter, have soups or stews going while I’m driving all day. Just depends on what food I bring onto the truck; convenience store and vending machine prices hurt my wallet, so I try to stay away from those.
You know how much your truck jostles around better than me, but there are crockpots with rubber sealed lids and locks to keep it shut that might be good!
Small insulated lunch bag (cheap) - and almost always some kind of sandwich. Leftovers from the weekend dinners too. I eat in my car as the lunch room is an awkward silence
no job so I just grab or make stuff whenever. when I work in an office I mostly pick up something local unless there are leftovers or such that are easy to bring which happens once in awhile. sometimes I would fast cuz it was easier to do at an office away from temptations.
Trader Joe’s salad and a fruit. any heavier and I’m sluggish all afternoon. And the vitamins seem to give me energy instead.
Whatever I put in the fridge. I work from home, and I enjoy cooking, so the cantina at work is great.
OP I’m curious what your reasoning is behind using a paper bag. I put my lunches (usually just dinner leftovers) in a reusable bag or lunch bag, and that is mostly to keep things clean if there’s leaks.
I can’t imagine that a paper bag would do much if something leaked, and they’re more difficult to carry (though I guess not if you have handles). Plus you can’t reuse them forever. No judgment, just genuinely curious if there’s some benefit I’m not seeing.
The bags themselves are “free” because I bring home other stuff (mostly bulk dry goods) from the store in them, and I don’t really put anything that would leak into them. I typically reuse the same bag for at least a few days until it gets messed up. I have been thinking about getting a lunchbox, though, just because they’re neat, hence this thread.
I bring 3 oranges, a sandwich (surprising, I know), a yogurt, water and generally a gatorade.
I really like oranges, and this way I have fresh fruit every day. Bananas check a lot of the same boxes for portability and convenience, but I mainly only like them when they’re still green so it’s not always easy to have them consistently through a work week.
The sandwich can be almost anything, since I tend to swap sandwich ingredients weekly, but I really like sourdough so that’s my staple bread most of the time.
I have 3 mandarins almost every day! Otherwise my lunch is just whatever leftovers we prepared recently: penne marinara, red beans and rice, mac & cheese, gnocchi soup, chicken wild rice soup, beyond burgers. Sometimes I’m unprepared and just drink a Soylent. I use a cloth shopping bag to carry it all, each in glass or plastic reusable containers.
Two rye bread sandwiches wrapped in paper towel and put inside a minigrip bag.
Coffee in a thermos with a wool sock around it and a plastic bag around that for insulation.
A small jug of milk.
Water.I’ve been eating the same thing every single day for well over 5 years.
Nice! And the picture! Well done.
I’ve been eating the same thing every single day for well over 5 years.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
thermos with a wool sock around it and a plastic bag
Ever thought of getting one that actually works?
With extra insulation even that one would work better.
Don’t you get tired of the same taste?
Not really. It’s just fuel.
Rye bread is just that good.
I rationally understand your point, I just can’t live like that.
I can do the same with breakfast but for some reason my brain can’t handle that with lunch. Thanks for being expensive brain.
Usually whatever leftovers from dinner. In a glass pyrex container in a lunchbox that fits in my saddlebag on my motorcycle. If there are no leftovers, usually a sandwich of some kind with chips and fruit.
I have stainless containers with silicone lids. Turkey sandwich with cranberry goat cheese on ciabatta and a side of cheese crackers, and something like a rice krispie treat for a late afternoon snack.
I can’t remember how long I’ve been eating that, but it’s simple and I haven’t grown tired of it. My wife makes it for me, and I make her a nice fancy coffee every morning in exchange.
That sounds amazing tbh damn
It’s honestly really good! And all Aldi ingredients, so it’s cheap. Was even better when I was working from home, as I could warm it in the toaster oven!
I’d love to swap lunches with several here. I can offer Norwegian matpakke in trade.
I’d trade for matpakke. You guys look to have a lot of ingredients we don’t get here in the US like all kinds of cheeses, pate, that caviar in a tube, different breads, etc. A lot of pics had cucumber in them though. I have yet to find any form of cucumber I enjoy, so skip that and we have a deal.
These are the little containers I have, but my lids are orange.
Berries included?
I think those are either a new addition or AI. Mine came empty, likely for the better. Plus those strawberries look very small.
I pack my spouse’s lunch every morning. One of our prepped meals, a small dish of almonds, 2 cookies, 2 peanut mini butter cups, a nalgene of lemon water, and a spork.
As for lunch bag, she has a collection of different dino or space themed bags that we cycle through depending on her mood.
